Brokers - what is lender communication like at the moment?

Credit where it's due, we have seen much improvement with Lenders.
Since early 2020 lenders' service levels have been incredibly poor, brokers have spent hours on hold with lenders, generally all lenders have treated brokers poorly, citing, COVID and business volumes as an acceptable reason.
We have seen a huge decrease in all lenders answering the phones, underwriting mortgage applications, and reviewing their criteria to make things easier.
Hopefully the age of the arrogant lender is over, most lenders are well behind on new business and need brokers support again.

Has lender communication improved? In short, not really, it's just that they are now sending good news rather than bad. As an example, I had an email on the 25th at 11:35am to say that rates would be changing and I had until 10pm that day to complete cases on the current range. Of course, it means that from the 26th the rates would be lower, but it would also indicate that no changes have been implemented in terms of lender-to-broker communications, and when rates rise again in the future all the issues and problems that were highlighted earlier in the year will still be present and brokers will, once again, be expected to drop everything and work until midnight every night, to ensure clients aren't disadvantaged because lenders have decided to increase rates with little notice.

Communication has massively improved over the last few months, lenders such as Coventry lead the way and others then were forced to follow suit. We brokers know they are having to juggle rates at which they lend money so they don’t make a loss on it but in the interest of their clients and ours its vital to have just a bit of forewarning.
A perfect example was this week, a client of mine who we secured an offer on contacted to see if there were any lower rates with his current lender HSBC, I was then able to tell him I will be able to move him products today as they have told us the rates are being decreased today. The client gets the outcome he wishes and I look even better and more knowledgeable with the client, it’s a win win for everyone.

The way lenders communicate hasn't changed much in that we are often notified of interest rate changes the day before still. The main change is that we are seeing rate reductions rather than rate increases. This takes off the pressure of locking in a new deal or losing it. In fact, we are often holding off submitting applications for a day or so if we know that the rate we are applying for is about to drop, which our clients are delighted with.

Lender communication varies, with some proactively calling brokers, while others rely on email after assessing applications. Our interaction with Accord Mortgage initially impressed me with a prompt phone call outlining requirements. However, subsequent interactions with Accord Mortgage revealed inconsistencies. They often sent emails requesting documents and information that had already been provided. Moreover, their assessment process appeared disjointed, as they would assess specific aspects and then raise additional queries or request more information, unrelated to the previous inquiries. Streamlining the process would be beneficial if lenders comprehensively reviewed initial submissions, compiled a clear list of requirements, and then contacted brokers. This proactive approach would minimise delays caused by repeated assessments each time new information is uploaded.

I feel that generally speaking there is very little problem with lender communication. When swap rates started to get volatile and lenders withdrew products at very little notice this made things tricky. But a good broker should be doing his sourcing on the day he submits the mortgage application to source the most up-to-date rates. If this is being done then i see little reason as to what difference lenders changing their product range should make to advisers/